Market Report – February 2018 ComicLink Focused Auction

Hi all, let’s look at some notable results from CLink’s 2nd February 2018 Focused Auction! On the whole, given that most artwork were lower value pieces, they finished within the expected range of what such OA should sell for. The low end of the comic art market appears stable, with few (if any) screaming deals to be had.

Nova Annual #1, page 30 by Wellinton Alves & Scott Hanna – $325

We’ll start off with a powerful cosmic piece by the under-appreciated Alves. Wellinton’s artwork sells for eminently affordable amounts, with this page among his higher-priced publicly sold art. $300+ for a charging Nova splash still seems like a bargain to me though!

Web of Spider-Man #51, page 27 by Mark Bagley & Keith Williams – $700

Someone made a pretty penny here. This WSM page previously sold for $281 at a CLink auction in June 2016, where I was one of the underbidders. Pieces featuring visually distinctive baddies (especially large, hulking ones) always get me! Anyway as I was saying, this page was very well bought 18 months ago and the seller deservedly reaped their reward.

Cable #34, page 7 by Ian Churchill & Scott Hanna – $505

My appreciation (and the affordability) of Churchill’s art has been documented in the February 2017 Market Report. Whether this $500+ sale of an arresting Hulk/Cable page is any indication of Ian’s art market moving up, remains to be seen. What’s crystal clear (in my mind at least) is that the money was well spent!

Action Comics #541, page 13 by Gil Kane – $290

Action Comics #541, page 22 by Gil Kane – $280

Five panel pages from Action Comics #541 were sold in this auction, with all fetching reasonable prices of between $200-300. Kane was known for using markers to ink his work – which unfortunately shows above, as some of the inked lines are beginning to fade.

There was a ton of Micronauts pages on offer, which I’m sure piqued the interest of a certain Microverse fan. Judging by the exceedingly healthy amounts these two Guice pages summoned, it would appear that the collector base for Micronauts OA is growing!

Micronauts #38, page 11 by Gil Kane – $1,605

Micronauts #41, page 21 by Gil Kane & Danny Bulanadi – $2,100

Five Kane pages were also sold, all ending very strongly in the $1k-3k range. Once again, fading marker is prevalent on that #38 page, whereas it’s apparent that Bulanadi used lightfast India ink on the #41 page.

Early Liefeld Youngblood OA rarely comes to market, and when it does, Rob’s fanatics (there are many) eagerly pounce. In light of a nice double-page splash from Youngblood #0 selling for $3.6k in November 2017 on Heritage Auctions, $2.5k for the above #10 DPS is a rather respectable figure, given its much less appealing (some may even say off-putting) subject matter. And $1.6k for the Strikefile #3 DPS actually looks like pretty good value, all things considered.

Silver Surfer #60, page 4 by Ron Lim & Jim Sanders III – $701

Infinity War #4, page 22 by Ron Lim & Al Milgrom – $3,100

Either bidders mistook this innovatively-paneled Infinity War page for an Infinity Gauntlet one, or Marvel Cosmic prices have officially ascended to a higher plane! As previously discussed, until recently, this IW #4 page would have commanded around $1.5k and Lim IG Thanos pages started at $3k+. Looking further back to 2016, the above IW page would have only cost around $1k at that time. The SS #60 page finished closer to our realm of reality, considering decent Lim SS pages go for around $600. In this strengthening Cosmic OA market, $700 seems reasonable for a solid page containing large images of Surfer and Thor, that also wraps up the Infinity Gauntlet storyline.

May’s Avengers: Infinity War movie has been pushing up Marvel Cosmic artwork prices the past four years, with quantum shifts in values occurring almost annually. There’ll probably be one or two more price leaps between now and 2019’s sequel; I wonder how the market will play out after that?

The Wake #1, page 5 by Sean Murphy – $324

The Wake #7, page 20 by Sean Murphy – $1,211

There’s been much chatter about Murphy’s blatant self-promotion and high asking prices for Batman: White Knight OA. Going by the solid results of these two pages from his earlier project The Wake, values of Sean’s artwork haven’t been negatively affected, and may even have risen slightly!

Prices for Ramos ASM OA appear to be holding steady from a few years back. Although, it should be noted that these two are strong examples – one’s a Goblin half-splash and the other’s got a big Spidey shot along with plenty of heroes.

Manifest Destiny #12, page 10 by Matthew Roberts – $135

Manifest Destiny #12, page 15 by Matthew Roberts – $163

I’ve enjoyed the American history revisionist fiction/fantasy that is Manifest Destiny, and being able to pick up distinctive Roberts pages for $100+ seems about right for modern artwork from an independent title. However, as with many other creator-owned comics, the chances of future value appreciation are limited due to their fleetingness in the limelight.

Ending on another cosmic note, West/Montano GOTG OA offers fine value at present, in view of the upcoming appearance of this original team in the third instalment of Marvel Studios’ GOTG franchise. Plus, can you really go wrong with dynamic interstellar artwork at these low prices?

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